Wimalaratne hopes the bins will help increase rates of recycling, which he describes as “appalling.” In the U.S., the recycling rate is less than 35 percent of all waste (the UK is marginally better, at about 40-45 percent). If the user didn’t want to use the app or register his identity, he could simply use the computer vision to help them know where to toss his cup. But it could be anything: charity donations, free merchandise and so on. In a Starbucks, for example, it could be points towards a free coffee. That reward would depend on the bin’s owner or sponsor. The computer vision identifies the material and lights up the correct area of the bin. He then holds his cup over the bin’s cameras, which take two photos. Once he's finished, he goes up and taps his phone against the bin, registering his identity with the bin app via Bluetooth. Wimalaratne and his team envision the smart bins as working like this: a consumer goes to a Starbucks and orders a latte in a paper cup (or a juice in a plastic bottle, or a milk in a carton, etc.). “There are hundreds of materials out there that look the same, but can’t be recycled in the same ways.” “People are confused about where to recycle things, and consumers are confused about the actual material the packaging is made of,” says Sajith Wimalaratne, the food and beverage commercial manager at Cambridge Consultants, the British consulting and product development company that created the bin. The bin uses computer vision-an algorithm that can “learn” to recognize images much the way the human brain does-to identify the material held in front of its cameras, and then tells the consumer exactly where to place the container. To learn more about how and for what purposes Amazon uses personal information (such as Amazon Store order history), please visit our Privacy Notice.Do you ever find yourself hovering over a recycling bin, not sure whether the container in your hand can go in or not? What is the difference between high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) anyway? Why do plastics all have the little arrow triangle sign on the bottom, even when they can’t all be recycled?Ī new “smart” recycling bin aims to help relieve any confusion. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie Preferences, as described in the Cookie Notice. Click ‘Customise Cookies’ to decline these cookies, make more detailed choices, or learn more. Third parties use cookies for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalised ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. This includes using first- and third-party cookies, which store or access standard device information such as a unique identifier. If you agree, we’ll also use cookies to complement your shopping experience across the Amazon stores as described in our Cookie Notice. We also use these cookies to understand how customers use our services (for example, by measuring site visits) so we can make improvements. We use cookies and similar tools that are necessary to enable you to make purchases, to enhance your shopping experiences and to provide our services, as detailed in our Cookie Notice.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |